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The Players Championship 2018 leaderboard breakdown: Scores, highlights from Round 1

Here's where we stand through 18 holes at TPC Sawgrass

By Kyle Porter

Nobody wanted to lead on Thursday at the 2018 Players Championship, it appeared. After multiple golfers (including Si Woo Kim, Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar and Patrick Cantlay) touched 7 under, nobody stayed there and now we are left with a six-way tie atop the leaderboard after Round 1 at TPC Sawgrass.


Maybe the most impressive full round of the day came early as Dustin Johnson shot a bogey-free 66 to grab a share of the early clubhouse lead with Webb Simpson. Johnson has never played particularly well on this course, and I was bearish on him coming on.

But thoroughbreds like him can play any track on any continent at any time, and now it's all of a sudden easy to see why one of the preeminent ball-strikers of his generation could melt TPC Sawgrass. He did so on Thursday and was 6 under through 11 before parring in. Friday isn't make or break for him, but if he gallops with another 66 it could be a long weekend for everybody else in the field.

"My expectations are the same for every tournament," said Johnson. "I want to play well, and I want to put myself in a position to have a chance to win on Sunday. Coming into here it's no different. I haven't had the best record here, but it's a golf course that I like, I enjoy playing and I feel like I should play well here."

Here's a look at the rest of the top of the leaderboard along with what other stars in the field did on Thursday in Round 1 at TPC Sawgrass.

T1. Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson, Alex Noren, Chesson Hadley, Matt Kuchar, Patrick Cantlay (-6): Ball. Striking. Fiesta. Cantlay, Noren and D.J. are as pure as it gets when it comes to iron play, and that should not be a surprise given that this course almost always produces an elite ball-striker as its champion. This is a fascinating group of all shapes, sizes and swing types, and I could see each of them hanging around until late on Sunday.

T7. Si Woo Kim, Jhonattan Vegas, Keith Mitchell, Rory Sabbatini, Steve Stricker, Andrew Landry (-5): Just like we all thought, Rory is in contention this week. But I'm here to talk Si Woo, as in the defending champion who is trying to achieve something that has never been achieved and go back to back in the best field in golf. He actually got it to 7 under before making bogey at two of his last three holes. You might be wondering, "Where's he been since last May?" If you are, you haven't been paying attention. Kim has four top 10s on the year, including a second a third and might actually be a star. He beat the old best opening round by a defending champ by one stroke.

T13. Lucas Glover, Danny Lee, Charles Howell III, Justin Rose, Bubba Watson, Cody Gribble, C.T. Pan, Ollie Schniederjans, Billy Horschel, Charl Schwartzel, Jon Rahm, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Xander Schauffele (-4): If you're scoring at home, that's 26 players at or within two of the lead. You could probably make some decent betting on the eventual winner coming out of this group. Garcia is the name that pops the most as he's won here before and probably would be leading if not for his double on the 17th on Thursday after dunking one short of the island green.

T55. Rory McIroy (-1): McIlroy, who somehow had the best score of the six marquee players in the two biggest groups, finished outside the top 100 in strokes gained off the tee (mostly because he hit it in the water on No. 18) and couldn't ever really get going. He had moments, and I suspect more are coming over the next three days, but he needs a big Friday afternoon to really get into the mix.

T69. Tiger Woods (E): It was going fine until he found the water on No. 18. Tiger struggled mightily off the tee on Thursday, which is a bit disconcerting considering the fact that you don't have to hit driver on this course as much as you do on most courses. Woods lost a stroke to the field off the tee and hit just five of 14 fairways. He'll have some work to do on Friday to make it to the weekend.

T95. Rickie Fowler (+2): The entire afternoon featured group struggled, and Fowler was not exempt. He was playing fine until he got to No. 17 late in the day. He came up short there, made double bogey and now sits well back of the leaders. His group with Woods and Mickelson combined to shoot 9 over.

T111. Jordan Spieth (+3): The three-time major winner's scorecard was a rainbow of sadness today. He opened bogey-bogey-eagle-double bogey, and it didn't get a lot better from there. If he misses the cut on Friday, that will be four in a row for him at this event. Of course the inevitable "what's wrong with Jordan Spieth?" backlash will follow, and then he'll win two of his next five events.

T139. Phil Mickelson (+7): The good news is that Mickelson was talked about maybe more than anyone else in the field on Thursday. The bad news for him is that it was more because of what he was wearing than anything else. Lefty shot a 7-over 79 and looked as if he was headed to an audition for a bonus season of The Office following his first round. He'll likely miss his fifth cut in six years here.